Shop talk

Don’t know why I like her and Tsipi Livni. Marine’s politics are too extreme for my blood and Tsipi’s too wishy-washy but they seem nice as people

Can’t think of a better heading.

So many things happened yesterday, from the horrendous to the interesting, that to put them all in some sort of order would be more than my journalistic abilities are capable of.

Which is no reason not to try.

Compartmentalization

Long ago, as previously mentioned, I was a teacher standing in the reception foyer of a school and the head came bursting out of his office, acknowledging one from about three women [parents] but ignoring the others. Later, when he returned, he acknowledged the others. That was an extreme version of compartmentalization.

Years later, I was a practising head, i.e. I took classes and did the head’s job too. So there’d be times of the day you’d have parents, children, governors, various outside people scheduled – which is why a good secretary is an absolute necessity and another necessity is the ability to compartmentalize the brain.

Frankly, that develops callousness in a way. One moment, a lady’s in tears over the leukemia of her child and twenty minutes later, you have to be sufficiently angry to dress down a recalcitrant student, followed by a prospective parent who requires a different mindset again. I imagine GPs are like that.

You never lose that. Everyone’s somewhere on the anxiety scale between uncaring and sociopathic at one end to the bleeding heart at the other and if you’re a bit closer to the bleeding heart end, then compartmentalization is the only way to survive, to preserve your own mental health.

If you can’t shut off this or that trouble until it’s necessary to deal with it, you’re in trouble, mental health wise. You might admire the callous and uncaring for their lack of concern and happy-go-lucky way but I don’t admire such minds – seems to me that that’s one more step towards the bestial and the complete shutting down of your spirituality. Anyone ever heard of balance?

I had to talk about that with one of our girls yesterday who came in on her day off because she was at the end of her tether.

Which brings us to …

Prioritization

If you can’t do this, you’re in trouble. She had to sit down and sort out her priorities then not budge on them. That latter is the crux – to have the mental strength not to be drawn back in by other people’s little mind games and the result is your own mental health and ability to cope.

One aspect of that is not to pay the slightest heed to other people’s apoplexy towards you, which is why I like to take people’s abuse and put it on my testimonials page. It’s interesting to note and analyse, then move on. It’s never, ever to take on board and be upset about – it shows their mental issues rather than yours.

Christianity gives you two things in it’s non-fundamentalist-bigot form – it gives external comfort and support in all circumstances and it also works on your compassion or lack of it. On the other hand, my experience as a head taught me the need to ruthlessly compartmentalize and prioritize. So if you fall somewhere near the middle between those two, it should suffice.

When all around are losing theirs

Yesterday was weird. All the bosses at all levels were out of it with things ranging from appendicitis to the vomiting bug to sheer sociopathic callousness [meaning on holiday at critical time] and so we had our Friday man and myself running it but at the same time, one of the managers was stressed out beyond measure by what had been happening behind the scenes and she needed a listening ear from my colleague and myself. I’ll have to phone her in a couple of hours and see if she’s OK.

Now the other guy hadn’t seen his Saturday working out that way and wasn’t right chuffed about having to come in late in the day and close up either but there are rules about two people being present at our place. And there was no way at all his own issues or mine could be taken care of [I had gastric trouble] so things just had to go ahead or else we’d just be spineless wimps – he took the same point of view on this I did.

And I saw another aspect of him too. He has a reputation as being a bit gruff, a bit, shall we say, a bit brusque and curmudgeonly, definitely non-PC – but when our assistant manager went down, he bundled her off home and contacted me about the new situation. So though he doesn’t wring hands and carry on about his compassion, he’s compassionate enough by his own lights when the chips are down.

And that leads to the next point …

Having things thrust upon you

Rossa and Cherie both know that they get put upon because they’re capable of sorting things – people tend to turn to them in crisis and all of the above points are therefore important. It brings up the next point that we can choose to be victims and play victimhood poker – I always do it with feminists who go on about how badly they have it – I moan about how badly men have it now women are paid more for equal work – but that’s an exercise, innit it?

[And don’t answer: “Is it?]

Seriously though, you can go through life with a woe-is-me attitude or you can do what you have to do to sort things out. Who tends the tender? Who doctors the doctor? No one does. No one ever will. I’d say the majority of mothers are like that, which is why they are capable of the most amazing levels of industry – they simply have to.

But show me one mother [non-feminist] who doesn’t appreciate having strong support behind her in doing that? That’s one of the major reasons the proper family is vital – man and woman and their children. You see the results of negating that all around society today.

Sadly, the modern woman, mentally crippled by the feminist/PC propaganda of feeling sorry for oneself, has created a monster mum who now kills her children when she can’t cope and becomes a sexual predator of young men.

Time to repost the Agatha Christie quote of Mr Satterthwatie, talking a woman out of committing suicide:

“You say your life is your own,” went on Mr Satterthwaite to her, “But can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer?

Your cue may not come till the end of the play; it may be totally unimportant, a mere walk-on part, but upon it may hang the issues of the play if you fail to give the cue to another player. The whole edifice may crumple.

You, as you, may not matter to anyone in the world but you as a person in a particular place and context may matter unimaginably.”

She sat down, still staring at him.

And before anyone starts about how this portrays the weak woman and the wise man, don’t forget that that was written by a woman and it could equally be roles reversed and often is – after all, what are mothers for? And the previous few paragraphs have not been about weak women but strong women, which is what the world needs, along with strong men.

If things are thrust upon you, then they are thrust upon you. End of story. If people come to you for help, then would you turn them away because you yourself are not coping?

And in the end, it strengthens you too and makes it easier to cope with stress, of which there’s a lot of it about. And other people, observing, are more willing to help out with what they recognize in you but you can’t. That should be the way of the world.

Which is why all the things the PTB are trying on to destroy the world and the way the left-liberals are just allowing it all to happen and the sociopathic rightist simply doesn’t care – see how Cameron and Osborne are perfectly happy to throw people onto the streets – that’s why those things anger me so. That’s why I’ll do everything I can to bring them down and all their twisted ideas about society and humanity.

Other things yesterday

1. Two young women came into the shop wearing dark sunglasses. I said to them: “Hmmm, shades are pretty vital today – it’s a bit bright out there.”

They explained that wearing shades protected you from rides or lines. Ah yes, the botox-controlled crow’s feet. They couldn’t see that this whole lifestyle had turned them into shrivelled prunes, useless to anyone else to all intents and purposes and costing a small fortune to maintain.

Didn’t say that of course – that’s for the blog alone.

2. Had ten minutes off to go to the mini-mart to get pizza and when I got back, said to the other guy that the only reason I go over there anyway is the girl on the till and yesterday, a customer was in the process of diddling her out of change. My colleague asked, “What’s her name?” as presumably he knows all these girls.

“Uh, I don’t know.”

“She has a name badge.”

“Uh, probably.”

“You’re hopeless – first rule.”

Just never thought of asking her name, I just like her and we get on well.

3. A French couple [regulars] came in. They live over here and I pointed out that our people are doing the reverse. “Not for long,” they pointed out, “Hollande is making it more and more untenable for foreigners to stay in France. The nationalist right are accused of making foreigners unwelcome but it’s not so – it’s the socialists who are the worst.”

No argument from me.

I asked their take on the Fillon-Cope thing with the UMP and they looked to the ceiling. “That’s why we’re over here.” Let me hasten to add that they are not on benefits – they have a business over here. I mentioned that this country is going down the drain too and so where can anyone go to after that?

Nods all round. Nice couple, heads screwed on right but then again, I’m a biased Francophile.